The most helpful favourable review

The most helpful critical review

113 of 114 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 starsGood way to learn French
I recently purchased Rosetta Stone V4 TOTALe levels 1-5.

This is an expensive piece of software but I have found it worth the investment. The software is easy and intuitive to use but the real strength of the software is the mixture of speaking, reading, listening and writing in the activities.

2.0 out of 5 starsSupport is Deplorable
Rosetta Stone is a fundamentally good program when it works. My daughter has used it and has learned french from it. It is better for teens to adults. The speech recognition doesn't work well with younger voices and my daughter would get very frustrated in trying to say the word even on the easiest setting. It is a bit better now that she is almost a teenager...

This is an expensive piece of software but I have found it worth the investment. The software is easy and intuitive to use but the real strength of the software is the mixture of speaking, reading, listening and writing in the activities.

I have attempted to learn French a number of times (my wife speaks French) but I did not made much progress as I never felt confident enough to start speaking. With the on-line instructor led studio sessions you can practice speaking in a class like session and interact with others at the same level as you. This helps get you going and builds confidence when others can understand what you are saying. I had some issues connecting to the live studio sessions but the tech support helped me sort out the issue quickly which was great. You get access to the live studio sessions for 15 months so it is worth starting them as soon as you can to get the full benefit.

I really like the iPhone application that you get access to with the software. It has speech recognition that allows you to practice when you are away from your main PC which is fun, and my kids love the novelty. The audio companion is less useful but it does allow you to develop listening skills but will not really help with pronunciation. It is best used as a reminder.

The software also allows you to play games on your own or against other users which breaks up the course and adds a bit of fun.

Overall I really like the software, I debated buying this for 2 months vs taking lessons and I'm glad that I bought the software. From past experience I signed up for lessons and then missed half of them due to work commitments. With the software you can come back to it as time allows. Lessons from a good teachers are probably better but this is a great way to make progress if you have a challenging schedule.

I gave it only 4 stars as it is pricey. The product is well designed. Easy to pick up and leave off which is ideal for busy people who don't always have a couple of hours straight to work on a language. No regrets with the purchase (bought the Italian one also).

I tried the Rosetta Stone French Part 1 course last year and I was impressed with it so I was really keen to try out the entire course. It is certainly not the cheapest on the market, but many state schools rate it sufficiently highly that they are prepared to allocate part of their budgets to purchasing expensive software licences. Many professionals rate this as the best course around.

I found the software very easy to install – install is via DVD and you then put in your unique code. There is also a download option. The combination of French words and pictures to accompany them, without anything at all in English means that one is thinking in French fairly much from the word go. Pronunciation, reading, writing and vocabulary are all covered and I initially revisited the Part 1 course which I had already covered. When I did that course I found that I had been making various errors in pronunciation and happily this time round much of what I had learned had stuck! I was soon onto the next part and learning new vocabulary.

One element which is certainly true is that the Rosetta Stone course really makes it fun to learn. I found myself progressing through the course much faster than I had expected and really wanting to keep going onto the next segment. The scoring system is an incentive and you find yourself really getting a kick out by hitting 100% in any section.

There are some aspects that would be purchasers should be aware of however. This course comes with a 3 month access to the online aspects which include live tutorials with French native speakers, and various community activities with games etc to improve your skills. You have to commence your inclusive three months within six months of purchase. Should you wish to extend this beyond the inclusive three months you can extend it but there is a quarterly charge. Rosetta Stone Customer Services were unable to tell me how much it costs per quarter to extend this feature which I find a little strange.

If you are serious about learning French using Rosetta Stone, then it is much more cost effective to buy this full course rather than starting with Part 1 and taking it from there. The Part 1 course is almost half the cost of the entire Part 1-5 course and there is no upgrade system so if you want to go on to purchase the entire course, you will not be automatically given credit for what you have already paid out. However, I do understand from RS that if you ring up and talk nicely to customer services they may be able to do something. This is, of course, not guaranteed.

As a final point, what you are purchasing is a personal license from Rosetta Stone, and you cannot legally sell this on - hence you are not legally going to be able to recover some of the cost on the second hand market when you have completed the course and given that this is quite a big upfront investment, this is a point worth noting.

Rosetta Stone is a fundamentally good program when it works. My daughter has used it and has learned french from it. It is better for teens to adults. The speech recognition doesn't work well with younger voices and my daughter would get very frustrated in trying to say the word even on the easiest setting. It is a bit better now that she is almost a teenager.

When I installed rosetta stone on my new computer all of the problems started. It is fully updated and the latest version that rosetta stone is selling in hard copy. I have tried since the beginning of September to get support to fix the problem. They emailed me a fix that was already on their site that I told them I had tried and it had failed to fix the problem. I have arranged phone calls and no one contacts me at the arranged time. It is now October 17, 2013 and I am no closer to getting this problem resolved than I was at the beginning. It is impossible to get anything accomplished and I am stuck with an expensive computer program that won't work. I expect an app that I paid $10 for not to support its' product. But a company that sells a product for $400 better support it, especially when they are still selling the exact same product that I purchased.

I was very excited to purchase Rosetta Stone TOTALe French 1-5. It took a long time to install Rosetta on my high end PC but once it was up and running, I jumped right in. The licensing is annoying but I`m all for protecting software rights so I gave them a pass on that one.

I have spent weeks studying diligently. I am nearing the end of the 2nd Level and I have become very disappointed. The "Gold Standard" in language learning is a dud. You simply look at pictures and repeat the words or sentences beneath. There is no translation. In the beginning, it`s not so bad, you can figure out most of the words by the pictures or go to an online translator. But once you get into complex sentences and grammar, you are faced with the product`s glaring flaw.

Rosetta`s premise is that you are a child learning in the same way you learned you first language. Seeing and hearing then repeating. But without the instruction you received in school, you`re left with a vocabulary of a hillbilly.

I can`t comment on tech support, I tried to reach them 3 times and gave up after 3 very long waits.

An excellent learning tool. If I have one comment, I do wish that some of the activities had better instructions, so that you knew what was being asked of you. But they were few, and I am really enjoying the lessons and activities.

I am enjoying using Rosetta Stone. It allows me to work at my own pace on my own schedule. Very easy to use and to understand. Provides reviews and reinforcement lessons. Looking forward to the on-line communications. Am still on Level 2 and am progressing to my own satisfaction. I have been using the product for about one month. With work, etc, I am able to work with it 2 or three times a week. Some sessions are only an hour. And occasionally, I am able to put in a 3 hour session. I am able to use the reinforcement cd's to and from work. I would recommend this to anyone looking to learn a new language.

I am totally impressed with design and functionality of Rosetta Stone. The learning is challenging, even in Level 1 and it magnifies as I complete each chapter in the level. The CDs in the package were very easy to install on my laptop and the headset with the microphone work really well. The course explores all aspects of learning a language, grammar, vocabulary, writing, speaking and it's all done in a visually stimulating way with lots of positive reinforcement. I love this product and I have recommended it to family and friends. One of my friends just bought the Japanese program and it loving it too. Also, the delivery from Amazon.ca was really fast - it arrived in a couple of days so I got to start learning right away. Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set

A user-friendly program. I'm not sure it's the best available teaching method, but I believe it will still get results. Compared to Unforgettable Languages, I don't think it's as effective of a method, but the interface is a little cleaner and easier to use.